The United Bank for Africa (UBA), Africa’s Global Bank, has completed the second edition of its expanded Graduate Management Acceleration Programme (GMAP) class of 2024, where 398 young Africans were inducted into the UBA Tribe.

This happened after a rigorous six-month hands-on-work and learning experience.

The company held a grand ceremony at Eko Hotel, where it hosted esteemed guests, the UBA management, faculty members, mentors, and the graduating class.

The graduates are from six African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroun, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.

UBA’s Group Chairman, Tony Elumelu, who spoked at the event, congratulated all the graduates and expressed profound pride and admiration for their success having completed the intense capacity-building programme, combining learning with on-the job training experience, garnered while rotating across several departments and units in the bank.

Elumelu took time to highlight the bank’s passion for youth empowerment in Africa, while bridging the unemployment gap, which according to him, remains one of the greatest challenges of the continent.

“For me, these young UBA Graduates are a testament to who we are: a truly pan-African Group, that invests in African talent.This milestone is more than just numbers. It signifies UBA’s commitment to youth empowerment.

“Unemployment is the greatest challenge we face – a tragic and cruel betrayal of a generation. We know governments alone cannot create all the jobs we need – so it is up to us, the African private sector, to partner with our government in improving lives and livelihoods.

“This is Africapitalism, and it is gratifying to see UBA play its part. UBA is dedicated to creating a positive impact, through the GMAP programme UBA is creating employment, boosting economic growth, and transforming lives across Africa,” Group Chairman said.

Continuing, he said, “At UBA, identifying these young ones, bringing them to the center, training them, equipping them for the future and the task ahead, not just for a career in UBA, but wherever they end up remains our passion, because this is how we play our role as a Pan-African bank, in helping to empower the next generation, which is the African youth. We are helping to create employment and this for us is our driving force.”